WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Not long to wait now, it’s almost here. The new Premier League season kicks off on August 10th when Manchester United play Leicester City in the first Friday night football of the new term.

It was tried out last year and deemed, by Sky of course, to be a success. Never one to take into consideration the difficulties caused to the travelling fans by rescheduling games so that supporters now have to either leave work early or take time off to get to the ground, the broadcaster has proven yet again that the only interest it has in football whatsoever is purely financial.

There are now games every day of the week when the European competition starts so it is no wonder that the armchair fan is the one whose numbers are increasing. Yet, even with this amount of football on offer, the TV companies are still vying with each other to deter people from buying their products.

In an average household where a football-loving family wants access to all the games they would need to have a TV licence for the BBC, a subscription to Sky Sports and another to BT Sport. The approximate cost of this is; £150.00 for the licence, £780 for Sky and £390 for BT, a grand total of £1340 per year.

These figures are why many people choose to go out to watch the football. Friday night was always a night out anyway it’s just that it now incorporates watching a game before the real stuff begins.

The problem is more during the rest of the week when going out wasn’t the norm but, because of the need to watch a game of football, it has now become so. Even if only one member of the household goes out it can be quite expensive and, if man and wife/partner both go, then we can add half as much again to the estimated cost.

On average, we would think the British beer drinking male would down around 6-8 pints whilst out watching his favourite team with friends. In London where beer, along with the majority of other things, is the most expensive and worst quality, the average price of a pint is £5.19 whereas in Carlisle, the cheapest, it is £2.35. That means that the average price of a pint in England is £3.77.

A required accompaniment when watching any football match

Consequently, this means that Mr. Average Drinker will spend between £22.62 and £30.16 to watch the game of his choice.

Over the course of a season this has to be cheaper and, probably, more enjoyable than subscribing to Sky or BT, although there are obviously other benefits with the TV companies as they tend not to show just football!

So, somebody going out to watch the games, on his own and only when his supported top six team is on the box, would need to go out around 30 times per season to watch live games. This means a spend of around £679.00 to £905.00 per season.

The difference at the top end is only £400 or so and this is what must be taken into consideration when judging one against the other. Basically, for the extra money, the supporter in question can have any or all of the additional benefits associated with satellite TV.

Another option, and the most drastic, would be to move abroad and get IPTV with all the channels imaginable for around €240 per year.

The (limited) choice is yours!

And finally…..

Manchester United‘s kids were comprehensively beaten by Liverpool’s kids 4-1 during their tour of the USA. Shortly afterwards, Manchester City’s kids beat Bayern Münich’s kids 3-2. Bayern Munich’s kids included Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery whilst Liverpool’s included Sadio Mané and Mo Salah.

The United game, however, only came to life from Liverpool’s point of view after Salah and Mané were replaced by Sturridge and Shaqiri, (both of whom scored).

After the match Mourinho was quick to point out that his team was made up of many players who wouldn’t even be in his first team squad when the season starts and that he was without several regulars. In other words, no praise or otherwise for the team, just excuses as to why he lost and, much more importantly, why it wasn’t his fault.

José Mourinho wearing what currently passes for his “happy face” during the USA tour

After the City game Guardiola, despite being in exactly the same situation as Mourinho, praised his players for their performance and didn’t look for any excuses as to why they had lost their previous two. To him it isn’t important. What is important is that ALL of his players see a positive manager who takes the best out of everything, not a negative one forever complaining and blaming everybody else.

With the type of football now being played by City, Tottenham and Liverpool and the promise of this style being adopted by Chelsea and Arsenal, Mourinho is in danger of being left behind tactically. He looks and sounds like an analogue manager in a digital world.

Can he change or is he too arrogant to think that he needs to? Time will tell but, unless something changes, he will not be the manager of Manchester United at Christmas.